Chapter 207: The Timeline Has Been Cut Into Half

POV: DIMITRI

The call came at 4:47 AM.

Dimitri was in his apartment bed, Eve asleep beside him, when his encrypted line lit up. Thomas. Communications specialist. Only called at this hour if the world was ending.

"We have it," Thomas said without preamble. "The burst transmission. Full data package. It’s... significant."

Dimitri was out of bed before the words finished leaving Thomas’s mouth.

"How significant?" he asked, already moving to the walk-in closet, already reaching for clothes.

"You need to see this in person Boss."

Which meant it was that significant.

"Thirty minutes, Bring it to the office" Dimitri said.

He ended the call and dressed in the dark, not wanting to wake Eve.

She stirred slightly as he was leaving, reaching for him in sleep.

"Where are you going?" she mumbled, not even fully awake.

"Business," he said, temple kiss to her forehead. "Sleep. I’ll be back."

He didn’t wait for a response. Just left her in the warm bed and headed for the elevator.

***

The drive to Valentino Enterprises took twelve minutes at this hour.

The lobby was empty at 5:02 AM. The security guard at the desk nodded when he saw him, he didn’t look surprised to see Dimitri at this hour because Dimitri came and went at all hours.

The private elevator to the executive floors required his biometric scan.

He used the time to call Mike.

"It’s 5 AM," Mike answered, voice rough with sleep.

"Come to the office, Be here in Five minute." Dimitri said.

"What happened?" Mike was already awake, already alert.

"James transmitted."

The line went silent for two seconds.

"I’m on my way," Mike said, and the call ended.

***

The executive conference room was exactly what it appeared to be.....sleek, modern, glass walls overlooking the city. But underneath the polished surface was something else: reinforced walls, encrypted surveillance, Faraday shielding, soundproofing that could handle any conversation without fear of infiltration.

Thomas was already there when Dimitri arrived, laptop open, monitors glowing with data that hadn’t existed six hours ago.

"Talk," Dimitri said, settling into the chair at the head of the table.

"Transmission completed successfully at 4:12 AM," Thomas began, his fingers already flying over keyboards. "Burst lasted exactly three seconds. Full data package decrypted and analyzed. He got everything, facility layout, personnel roster, viral progression documentation, security infrastructure, operational timeline."

"The timeline," Dimitri said quietly. "Tell me about the timeline."

Thomas pulled up a document. His expression shifted slightly, something like concern crossing his features.

"The Covenant received new operational parameters three days before James infiltrated. They accelerated the field test deployment." Thomas paused. "From approximately thirty days to fourteen days."

The words sat in the air like a physical weight.

Fourteen days. Not four weeks. Fourteen rotations of the earth before a bioweapon was released on an unsuspecting population.

"How certain is this?" Dimitri asked.

"Absolute. James documented it directly from Dr. Chen’s mouth. She explained the protocol to him personally. The Covenant made the decision to move up the timeline. The reason given was that field deployment needs to happen sooner than originally planned."

Dimitri stood and walked to the window. The city was beginning to wake below him.....early morning light spreading across rooftops, people starting their day with no idea that the clock was ticking on something catastrophic.

"Send me everything," he said. "Full breakdown."

"Already compiled," Thomas said. He transferred files to the secure drive Dimitri had brought.

The elevator chimed.

Mike emerged, still buttoning his shirt, hair not quite brushed, but his expression was completely alert. His eyes went to Dimitri, then to Thomas, then to the monitors displaying data.

"How bad?" Mike asked, settling into the chair beside Dimitri’s usual seat.

"Fourteen days," Dimitri said. "The timeline’s been cut in half."

Mike’s jaw tightened. He looked at the monitors, absorbing the information.

"They accelerated?" Mike asked.

"Three days ago. New operational parameters from someone above the facility level."

"Which means this goes higher than we thought," Mike said. It wasn’t a question.

"Higher and faster," Thomas confirmed.

The elevator chimed again.

Marco entered with another man, younger, tech-focused, wearing the look of someone who hadn’t slept in thirty-six hours. Thomas stood immediately.

"He was still analyzing," Marco said, "so I brought him up. He helped coordinate the satellite reception and decryption. He needs to be part of this conversation."

Dimitri nodded once, acknowledging the decision. Marco’s instincts about who needed access to information were rarely wrong.

Marco settled into a chair, and the younger tech specialist...Claude, Dimitri’s brain registered, positioned himself at the secondary monitors.

"We have four identified facilities in the Northeast," Marco began, "New Jersey primary location where James is currently embedded. Secondary facility in Pennsylvania. Two additional sites we’ve identified through satellite imagery and personnel movement patterns. Multiple viral strains in development across all four locations. This isn’t a single operation, gentlemen. This is a network."

"Test subjects?" Dimitri asked.

"Minimum forty-three across all identified facilities. Maximum possibly higher if there are sites we haven’t identified yet," Marco said. "They’re using forgotten people, homeless, undocumented, people with no one to report them missing. The Covenant’s infrastructure for test subject acquisition is sophisticated. They’re not taking risks."

"And the virus?" Mike asked.

Claude pulled up viral progression data on the screen.

"Highly transmissible," Claude explained, his voice steadier than his exhausted appearance suggested. "Two-week incubation period with silent symptoms. The infected person is contagious but asymptomatic for fourteen days. On day fifteen, acute phase begins. High fever, organ failure, death in ninety percent of infected within forty-eight hours of symptom onset."

The implications hung heavy.

"A disease you don’t know you have for two weeks," Mike said quietly. "By the time symptoms show, you’ve infected everyone you’ve been around."

"Exponential spread," Claude confirmed. "In an urban center with normal population density and movement patterns, we’re modeling infection rates that would create a pandemic in three weeks. Maybe less."

Dimitri looked at the numbers.

"Where is the field test deployment planned?" Dimitri asked.